Paper cutter



Jan. 24, 1956 SERRONE 2,732,145

PAPER CUTTER Filed Jan. 5, 1953 United States Patent PAPER CUTTER Peter J. Serrone, Kansas City, Mo.

Application January 5, 1953, Serial No. 329,621]

2 Claims. (Cl. 242-555) This invention relates to paper cutters and, more particularly, to an improved type of cutter for use with rolled paper.

The most important object of this invention is to provide a paper cutter for use with paper wound in rolls upon tubular forms, particularly such paper as, is commonly used by florists and others who do considerable wrapping withdecorative metal foil and other expensive papers.

Another important object of this invention is to provide such a paper cutter which is adapted for releasably holding a roll of paper in a manner permitting quick and easy removal of the form of an expended roll and insertion of a new roll and in a manner disposing the outermost layer of the paper for quick and easy unrolling and for neat and positive cutting.

' Still another important object of this invention is to provide such a paper cutter which is adapted for holding and cutting paper from rolls of different diameters.

Another object of this invention is to provide such a paper cutter that is safe and foolproof in use, requires a minimum of space for storage, and is relatively inexpensive to manufacture. a

Still other objects of this invention, including certain details of construction, will be made clear or become apparent as the following specification progresses.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing:

a Figure 1 is a perspective view of the paper cutter of this invention, showing a roll of paper in place therein.

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of said cutter, with the spring removed and certain other parts broken away for clarity; and a Fig. 3 is an inverted, slightly enlarged cross sectional view taken on line III-III of Fig. 1, showing the cutter and the roll of paper disposed in the normal position for cutting.

The cutter of this invention includes a first J-shaped assembly broadlydesignated by the numeral 10, a second J-shaped assembly broadly designated by the numeral 12, and yieldable means broadly designated by the numeral 14 interconnecting the assembly 12 with the assembly 10.

The assemblies and 12 are each preferably integrally formed of suitable plastic material, although they may also be formed of separate plastic parts suitably joined by any of the several methods well known in the art or the parts may be of metal either integrally formed or suitably joined.

J-shaped assembly 10 includes an elongated blade 16 and an L-shaped sub-assembly or member 1820 comprised of a trunnion leg 18, which is shorter than blade 16, and an extension leg 20, blade 16 and legs 20 and 18 being interconnected in the order named, preferably integrally, with extension leg 20 disposed in bight-like relationship between corresponding extremities of blade 16 and trunnion leg 18.

The blade 16 is longitudinally straight and arcuate in transverse cross-section and has one longitudinal margin thereof serrated to present a paper cutting edge 22 along 2,732,145 Patented Jan. 24, 1956 ice the entire length of said one edge thereof. It is notable that the radius of curvature of the inner or concave face of blade 16 is less than that of the smallest roll of paper with which the cutter is to be used, in order to insure positive contact between the paper and the blade 16 along the cutting edge 22.

Adjacent the end of blade 16 remote from the extension leg 20 of assembly 10, and on the convex or outer face of blade 16, there is provided a pair of opposed, outwardly extending, elongated brackets 24-24 with their longitudinal axes parallel to the longitudinal axis of the blade 16, each being L-shaped in inverted cross-section and having a leg 26 mounted upon blade 16 and a leg 28 spaced from the blade 16, the legs 2828 being coplanar and spaced from each other to present a pair of elongated, opposed tracks 30-30 between the blade 16 and the legs 2828 and an elongated slot 32 between the respective legs 28-28.

Intermediate the ends of the blade 16, on the convex surface of blade 16 and in alignment with the slot 32, is provided a fixed spring holder 34. Holder 34 may consist of a parallel-sided, arcuately topped protuberance 36 extending outwardly from blade 16 a distance slightly in excess of that by which the legs 2828 of brackets 24--24 are disposed outwardly from the blade 16, there being a transverse, spring-anchoring perforation 38 in the protuberance 36 spaced from the blade 16 by the same distance that the slot 32 is spaced from the blade 16;

At the end of blade 16 remote from the brackets 24-24, the extension leg 20 depends from the inner or concave face of the blade 16. Leg 20 is longitudinally straight and flat in transverse cross-section, having paral lel longitudinal edges and convexly arcuate ends.

Adjacent the end of extension leg 20 remote from blade 16, the trunnion leg or roll support 18 extends from leg 20 toward the end of blade 16 bearing brackets 2424 and in spaced, longitudinal axial parallelism with blade 16. Support or trunnionleg 18 is elliptical in transverse cross-section and preferably tubular and open at the end thereof remote from the extension leg 20.-

J-shaped assembly 12 includes an elongated rail 40 and an L-shaped sub-assembly or member 42-44 comprised of a trunnion leg 42, which is shorter than rail 40, and an extension leg 44, rail 40 and legs 44 and 42 being interconnected in the order named, preferably integrally, with extension leg 44 disposed in bight-like relationship between corresponding extremities of rail 4 and-trunnion leg 42.

The rail 40 is longitudinally straight and T-shaped in inverted cross-section throughout its length, havingra pair of oppositely extending lateral flanges 46- adapted by their cross-sections to slide in the tracks 3l)-30 and a rib 48 perpendicular to the flanges 4646 and extending outwardly from plate 16 through slot 32 when the rail 40 is in operative position in the tracks 3036 of brackets 2424, the face of the flanges 4646 proximal to the convex face of the blade 16 being concavely complementary thereto.

Adjacent the end of rail 40 remote from the extension leg 44 of assembly 12, there is formed in the rib 48 a spring-holding perforation 50, which extends transversely through the rib 48 and is spaced above the flanges 46-46 a distance such that the perforation 50 is in the plane of the slot 32 when the rail 40 is in place in the tracks 30-30.

At the end of rail 40 remote from the perforation 50, the extension leg 44 depends from the inner or concave face of the rail 40. Leg 44 may preferably be substantially identical to the leg 20, except that the leg 44 will be slightly longer than the leg 20 to allow for the thickness of the blade 16.

Adjacent the end of the extension leg 44 remote from rail 40, the trunnion leg or rollsupport 42, which is preferably identical to the trunnion leg 18, is mounted upon the extension leg 44 in opposed relationship to the trunnion leg 18 on extension leg 20.

The'yieldable means 14 preferably comprises an elongated, coiled spring having opposite end loops adapted to fit through perforations 38 and 50 for mounting the spring 14 to blade 16 and rail 40, respectively, the one passing through the perforation 50 being also adapted to engage the end of legs 28-28 facing the protuberance 36 to serve as a stop for limiting the extent of sliding movement of the rail 40 in the tracks 303t against the 7 action of the spring 14.

It may also be noted that the spring 14 is sufficiently extendible and the length of the rail 40 is sufiiciently long compared with the length of the brackets 24-24 to permit easy insertion and removalfrom the trunnion legs 1.8 and 42 of a roll of paper 54 wound around a tubular form 56, when the rail 40 is slid'in the tracks 3li33 to its extended position.

a In operation, to insert a form 56 bearing a roll of paper merely be reversed.

It will be appreciated that certain changes. in details in the construction of the cutter contemplated by this invention may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, and, accordingly, it is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, whatis claimed as new and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:

l. A holder and cutter device for use with a tubular roll of paper comprising an elongatedblade having a longitudinal cutting edge; an L-shaped, roll-holding mem- 54 into the cutter, the blade 16 may be conveniently held by an operator at the balance of the cutter with the convex face of blade 16 crossing the palm of the operators hand; one end of the form-56 may then be brought into engagement with the extension leg 44 with'the trunnion leg 42 extending into the form 56 and force applied by the right hand of the operator upon the roll of paper 54 on form 56 in the direction of the leg 44 and against the action of the spring 14 to slide the rail 40 in the tracks 30-30 and thereby move the trunnion leg 42 away from the trunnion leg 18. When the trunnion leg 42 has been moved away from the trunnion leg 18 by a sufiicient distance for the end of the form 56 adjacent the leg 18 to clear the latter, the form 56 and the roll 54 can be moved'transversely to bring that end of form 56 into alignment with the trunnion leg 18; the force being applied'by the operator may then be released, whereupon the spring 14 will bring the extension leg 44 back into engagement with'the end of blade 16 and will thereby dispose the trunnion legs 18 and 42 into circumscribed, supporting relationship with the form 56. It is notable that the roll of'paper 54 should be inserted in the cutter in that end-wise relationship which will dispose the convolutions of the roll of paper 54 as shown in Fig. 3 with an outermost end 58 of the roll 54 emerging from between the plane of the blade 16 and that of the trunnion legs 18 and 42 and passing over the cutter edge 22 of blade 16.

To cut a section from the roll of paper 54, the operator may with his right hand pull upon the end 58 thereof to unroll the desired amount while the convex face of blade 16 is still being supported in the palm of his left hand. The paper 54 may then be brought into tight engagement with the cutting edge 22 of blade 16-by the operator applying pressure with his thumb upon the her for each end of the bladerespectively, each member having a roll-receiving, trunnion leg andv an extension leg; and means for each member respectively mounting the extension leg thereof on the blade adjacent a corresponding end of the latter, said extension legs extending laterally from the blade in spaced parallelism with each 7 other and being restrained by said mounting means against rotative movement relative to the longitudinal axis of the blade to maintain the trunnion legs in spaced alignment,

said mounting means for at least one of said members comprising a rail connected to the extension leg of said one member and extending therefrom in spaced paral lelism with the trunnion leg of said one member, track structure on the blade adjacent one end thereof receiving the rail for free sliding movement of the rail longitudinally of theblade, and aspring interconnecting the rail and the blade and yieldably biasing the rail toward the opposite end of the blade, whereby the trunnion leg of said one member is reciprocable in a linear path toward and away from the trunnion leg of the other member.

2. In a device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the extension leg of said one member traverses the plane of the blade beyond said one end of the latter, whereby said one end of the blade acts as a stop for said one member to limit reciprocation of the latter under influence of the spring to a roll-holding position spacing said trunnion legs a predetermined distance. V

: References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 575,730 Peraut Jan. 26, 1897 1,398,711 Bofsky Nov. 29,1921 2,118,751 Wolfson May 24,1938 2,214,176 Portle Sept. 1-0, 1940 2,309,125 Krueger Jan. 26, 1943 2,4415 18 Marinsky Aug. 24, 1948 

